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AN 



ORATION, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



WASIIIHGTO:^ SOCIETY, 



IN BOSTON, 



ON 



THE FOURTH OF JXJLY, 1816. 



BY ASIIER WARE. 



I'nUL.lSHF.D BY THE BEqUKST OP THE SOCIETT. 




JBOSTON : 
PRINTED BY ROWE AND HOOPER. 

18ie, 



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ORATIOH". 



J MPORTANT events occur in the history of every peo- 
pk,, which the wisdom and patriotism of statesmen 
mark out to be commemorated by anniversary cele- 
brations. There is a fitness and propriety in the thing, 
that at once approves itself to every reflecting mind. 
Nothing has a stronger tendency to nourish a lofty and 
generous patriotism. We seem to participate in the 
glory of those great deeds, which we celebrate, and 
the sentiment of patriotism becomes identified with 
that of self-love. 

Actions that have in themselves a character of pe- 
culiar grandeur, or that have in the current of events 
led to important results, cannot be left to sleep in ob- 
scurity with the common mass of history. They ne- 
cessarily stand forward in bold relief among the mo- 
numents of national glory, and become, as it were, 
central points, around which the feelings of patriotism 
are rallied. 

What event could more suitably be selected for 
this purpose by any people, than the act that made 
them an independent nation. The declaration of In- 
dependence by the patriots of '76 was an act of that 
moral sublimity, that finds few parallels in the histo- 
ry of nations. It was an act by wliich an infant peo- 
ple set at defiance the vengeance of one of the oldest 
and most powerful nations in the world ! With the 



^'^^ 



4) 

tempered feelings, and moderated enthusiasm of these 
times of repose and tranquility, we can with difficulty 
conceive the tone of heroism to which the minds of 
men of that day must have been raised, before they 
ventured on such a step. Yet when we were without 
an ally, without an organized government, without 
an army or navy, destitute of pecuniary and military 
resources, with a population small in number and 
widely dispersed, a dark cloud of savages hover- 
ing on our defenceless frontier, and a mighty fleet 
sweeping our unprotected sea-coast ; under all these 
disadvantages, Congress did but what the wishes of 
their constituents had anticipated,when they defied the 
utmost vengeance of a po\ter that had recently tri- 
umphed over the united strength of France and Spain. 
The act derives additional features of moral grandeur 
from the motives which led to it. It was not to vindicate 
the claim of an hereditary despot to a throne, nor of 
a profligate aristocracy to exclusive privileges, nor 
to sustain the pernicious authority of a bigotted priest- 
hood over the consciences of men ; it was to defend 
the equal rights of a whole people. It was the holi- 
est cause for which men deserving to be free ever un- 
sheathed the sword. 

The consequences correspond in their importance 
to the intrinsic dignity of the act itself. These we 
see and feel in part, in the blessings of political free- 
dom, and national prosperity ; and these we are too 
much in the habit of considering as the whole. But 
the full measure of its efiects is yet to be unfolded 
in the records of future ages and other nations. It is 
the successful issue of our contest that now inspires 






with fortitude the patriots of South America. It is 
our example that led to the planting of the tree of lib - 
erty in the fields of Mexico, and the plains of Chili, 
among the mines of Peru, and on the banks of the 
La Plate. Amidst the perils and convulsions to 
which they are exposed, it is the day-star of freedom 
which first dawned on our shores, that, gleaming 
through the tempests of war, reanimates them under 
misfortune and defeat to new exertions, and that will 
finally render the rights of man triumphant over the 
pride of kings, in every part of the western world. 
The friends of despotism justly represent the cause of 
liberty as contagious, and we have still grounds to 
hope, that the example of America enjoying the most 
perfect tranquility amidst the most perfect freedom, 
Avill inspire the abused people of Europe with cour- 
age and strength to burst the three-fold cord, with 
which hereditary tyrants, and obsequious priests, and 
mercenary armies have bound them down to servitude. 
Yes, the fourth of July is not more the birth- day of a 
nation, than it is the birth-day of freedom. I do not 
say that other nations did not before that time boast 
of their political rights. The orators of England ex- 
tolled the liberty of Englishmen. But what was 
that liberty? the original, underived, and inherent 
rights of men, such as we contended for and estab- 
lished ? No ; its origin shews its nature : it was 
traced to the concessions of their kings. It was the 
miserable dole extorted by sturdy beggars from tim- 
id or necessitous masters. 

The declaration of Independence was then the first 
effectual assertion^ at least in modern times, of the 



6 

natural rights of man. Our fathers did not approach 
a tyrannical monarch and his profligate ministers with 
courtly complaisance, with the voice of entreaty and 
supplication. The only throne to which they ac- 
knowledged allegiance was the throne of God, and 
the only majesty to which their prayers were address- 
ed, was the Majesty of heaven. To human dignities 
and earthly thrones, they spoke in the language of men 
conscious of their rights. They did not disgrace 
these rights, by giving them the name of privileges, 
and tracing them to the grants and concessions of pre- 
vious monarchs. They declared themselves free be- 
cause God ha(! made tliem so. 

The principle, on which we justify the patriots of 
'76j is the soul of all our political institutions, the na- 
tural and inborn right of man to self-government; a 
right that can neither be strengthened nor impaired 
by precedent or prescription. On this principle the 
statesmen of our country have erected a scheme of 
civil polity, which, while it is the pride and glory of 
America, has extorted the admiration of the wise and 
good of other countries. It has been mentioned as a 
peculiar instance of good fortune, to be praised by one 
who is deservedly loaded with the praises of others, 
laudari a laudato viro, and while our political institu- 
tions have been honored by the panegyrics of such 
men as Fox and Carnot, we may smile at the harm- 
less scurrilities of the parasites of kings. We covet 
not the commendations of men whose bodies are bow- 
ed down in habitual deference to hereditary' rank, and 
whose souls are cankered with the jail distemper of 
perpetual servility, though some of these birds of ill 
emen may have lit on our sJiores. 



y 



Such I believe to be the feeling of the vast majority 
of the American people. They are attached by habit, 
sentiment, and principle to a representative democra- 
cy, and have no disposition to exchange the unosten- 
tatious simplicity of our democratic system of govern- 
ment, for the tawdry and fantastic trappings of royal- 
ty. They feel no reverence for titled depravity, or 
hereditary folly. They find it diflScult to imagine 
why a man destitute of every public and private vir- 
tue, should be entitled to rank and authority, merely 
because his ancestors, with as few claims on the re- 
spect of mankind, had enjoyed them before him. 
They cannot perceive how an individual whose no- 
torious baseness has excluded him from the more re- 
spectable class of swindlers, whose low vices render 
him an unfit companion for professed gamblers, whose 
word of honor has been so often pledged, and so of- 
ten forfeited, that it will not pass among the associ' 
ates of his revelries for a shilling, I say, they cannot 
easily see how such a man, even though fortune may 
have placed him on a throne, can be the fountain of 
honor to a whole nation. If there are men amongst us 
more highly gifted,who can discern the fitness and pro- 
priety of these arrangements, the great mass of the 
people are incurably blind ; nor can they be persuad- 
ed that tlie highest ofBce in their gift, after having for 
a quarter of a century been filled by genius and vir- 
tue, could derive any accession of dignity, by being 
accepted by a dotard of royal pedigree, though he 
could number a hundred among his ancestors as fool- 
ish as himself. 



-%w. 



But though such is the general feeling, it is only in 
in the death-like silence of despotism, that all men 
think alike, or, to speak more correctly, cease to think 
at all. Where the mind is left free to follow its na- 
tural bias, there will always be a diversity of opinion. 
It has been said that tlie distinction of whig and tory 
has a foundation in the nature of man ; certainly his 
natural temper, as modified by the institutions of 
civil society, does afford a very broad foundation for 
this distinction. The timid and corrupt naturally 
seek shelter beliind the ramparts of the throne, and 
the monarch willingly protects the useful train of his 
mercenary dependents. Men of a bolder cast of char- 
acter, of a sanguine temper, and enlarged benevo- 
lence, mark out for themselves another line of pub- 
lic duty, in guarding with vigilance the rights of the 
people. The first class of politicians justify them- 
selves by pleading the danger of popular commotions 
and irregular tumults, and by insisting much on the 
want of virtue and stability in the people, to maintain 
a well-organized and efficient government. The 
whig denies every proposition of the tory, and pleads 
the universal tendency of power to concentrate itself, 
and the manifest danger, when it is confided in 
considerable portions, to a permanent body of men, 
or made hereditary in a family, that it will gradu- 
ally absorb all tlie authority of the state, till not a 
vestige of popular freedom is left. ' he distinction 
of whig and tory, as it has long been known in Kng- 
land, exists in this country, but with considerable 
modification, under the names of republican and fed- 
eralist. It is not only the timid that swell the ranks 



of fediH'calism. Slie ranks among her proselytes the 
daring and profligate, who seek to erect a throne 
amidst the confusion and tumult of popular conten- 
tion, and among the haughty and supercilious, whose 
pride is wounded on finding themselves lost in the 
the mass of common citizens, with no mark of dis- 
tinction, and none of the insignia of superiority,, It 
is far from my intention to apply this description to 
the great body of the federalists. They are doubt= 
less as firm in their republican attachments as we are. 
But in adverting to the character of a party, the at- 
tention is unavoidably drawn to the leaders, who, in 
all questions of temporary interest at least, give the 
tone and temper to the vv hole. And we are fully au- 
thorised in saying, that the active and stirring spirits, 
"who hold federalism in leading-strings, have views in 
many respects not favorable to our democratic free- 
dom. If we go back to the period of the formation, 
of the constitution, we find Hamilton, the great cham- 
pion of the party, proposing in the convention an 
elective monarchy. Nor have we cause for believing, 
that the spirit of the party has undergone a change 
since that time. Look into the works of Fisher AmcF, 
the political bible of our Junto. A more bitter in- 
vective against republics was never penned by the 
most devoted minion of kings. Every epithet of vir- 
ulent abuse, and every odious and revolting image, 
that a ready memory and fertile imagination could 
suggest, are brought together to express the rancor of 
his hostility to a republican form of government; and 
he appears to have summoned all the powers of his 
acrimony, where he describes democracy as an illU' 



10 

minated hell, and the people of America as a band of 
demons, waging implacable war with every thing 
that is noble and generous in man, and all that is 
great and good in the constitution of civil society. 
The transparent veil thrown over these torrents of 
obloquy, by substituting the word democracy for re- 
public, takes nothing from the edge of the invective, 
and conceals nothing of the spirit of the writer. Our 
own government is a pure democracy. All political 
power resides in the people, and you may rely upon 
it, when a man in this country professes his hostility 
to democracy, if he understands the signification of 
terms, he means a republic. Yes, there are those 
among us, few indeed in num])er, but who, by their 
activity and resources, have been able to place them- 
selves at the head of a powerful and respectable par- 
ty, to whose eyes liberty never appears so lovely, as 
when she is reposing under the shadow of a throne, 
and to whose fears she never seems so secure, as 
wlien protected by the guardian genius of aristocra- 
cy. Nor can they feel satisfied till they see the last 
grace gi\en to polished society, in the sparkle of a 
a c(»ronet, and till the last ornament of political per- 
fection glistens in the lustre of a diadem. 

But men are never in want of pretexts to justify their 
opinions, and to give avowed hostility to an establish- 
ed form of government even the semblance of patriotism. 
It has been discovered by the wisdom of these times, 
tliat a democracy, whicii a philoso])hic critic of anti- 
quity, bred in a despotic court, called the nurse of great 
geniuses, is deficient in energy, b.o far has their 
notion been carried, that the prediction has often been 



11 

vepeated both in this couutry and Europe, that oui" 
constitution would never survive the shock of war ; 
that it had not strength to bring out the resources of 
the nation, nor even to sustain itself amidst the convul- 
sions incident to such a state. Tlie experiment has been 
fitiirly tried and the prediction has failed. The result 
of the war was as much a triumph of republican prin- 
ciple, as of the republican party. It proved that in 
many respects, the freeist government is the strong- 
est. Twice has it been our fortune to measure our 
strength with one of the most powerful nations in Eu- 
rope, and twice has our enem;^ by his OAvn confession 
retired from the contest, baflled and defeated, with 
stripes bleading on his back. The trophies of two 
wars have been won under the freeist government 
that ever existed, and from the bitterest foe that ever 
waged a war of massacre and extermination. Other 
nations have arrayed more numerous armies and cov- 
ered the waves with mightier fleets. Eut what fleets or 
armies ever shewed a more heroic devotion to their 
country's cause than ours ? Was there any Avant of 
energy during the summer of 1814^, when our Avhole 
northern frontier, from the shores of Erie to the waters 
of Champlain, was lighted up with an uninterrupted 
succession of tlie most brilliant triumphs. One daz- 
zling exploit followed another with such rapidity, 
that an admiring people had scarcely time to cel- 
ebrate the achievements of one hero before another put 
in his claim to equal honor. The thunder of vic- 
tory was borne through the farthest woods of the 
north, and startled with its echoes the wildest of our 
savage foes that wander in the artic regions. Here 



12 

indeed seemed tlie completion of our martial fame, 
this seemed the fullness of our military renown, when 
a rival splendor bursting from the other extreme of 
our empire filled every faculty with admiration and 
astonishment, lent a new species of glory to our arms^ 
and displayed in a new light the resources of a repub- 
lic. In the northern w:ar regular troops had been op- 
posed to the hardiest veterans of the old world led by 
the most experienced officers. But for one of tisc 
best appointed armies, that ever sailed from Europe^ 
to be vanquished, and almost annihilated by an equal 
or inferior num])er of unpracticed militia, whose hands 
were yet callous from the labours of husbandry, is a 
new event in the annals of war : and this glory was 
reserved for the youngest daughter of the union. 

A government, under wiiich such deeds have been 
performed, must possess strength from some source or 
other. If it is not found in the extent of its authority, 
it will be seen in the confidence and affection of the 
people. A despotism, that rules by the infiuencc of 
fear, may call forth more effectually the resources of 
the country for the purposes of foreign conquest; but 
a free government, that reigns in the love of the peo- 
ple, will be incomparably stronger for the purposes 
of defence. We have witnessed this in ihe alacrity 
with which our citizen soldiers have turned out to de- 
fend the rights of the soil. If we meet with a soliiary 
exception in our own doubly dislionoured state, it is to 
be ascribed to the disposition of the ruling chiefs, and 
not to the degeneracy of the people. If one third of 
our territory became a cheap and bloodless coiiqnest, 
it was not for want of courage or a disposition in the 



13 

militia to defend it. If the enemy was allowed quietly 
to fortify and strengthen his positions, the cause is to 
be found in the councils of the state. 

On the commencement of the war, the government 
of this commonwealth was placed in the hands of 
vain glorious and hoastful federalism. The leaders 
of the party, while the thunders of war were heard 
rolling at a distance, were not sparing of their cen- 
sures of the general government, for the want of cour- 
age and military talent. The close of the war gave 
them an opportunity of exhihiting their prowess in 
the field, as well as on paper. It is vain for them, in 
this case, to plead conscience. Their political Nestor 
had gravely announced to his admirers, that it was 
lawful to defend the soil, even against the armies of. 
Britain ; and happy would it have been for our honor, 
if the energies of the " Washington of Massachu- 
setts" had not been exhausted in discovering and 
giving utterance to this great truth. One good eff'ect, 
however, resulted from it. It removed from scriqni- 
Ions federalism, the restraint of conscience, and now 
was the time to shew her gallant bearing. Never 
were men placed in circumstances where honour call- 
ed more imperiously for action. But where shall we 
look for the monuments of federal prowess ? Shall we 
go to Eastport, or shall we stop at Castine ? Where 
was the spirit of federal chivalry when the sacred 
rights of the soil were violated by hostile feet? 
Where the might of her chosen hero, who w as called 
from retirement by the exigences of the times, and re- 
tired again when the tumults of war had subsided ? 
Did he return to the quiet of domestic life covered 



14 

with laurels, and seamed with honourable scars? 
No — His prudence suggested that the better half of 
valor is discretion, and he kept at a respectful dis- 
tance from the hazards of battle. The prowess of 
our military chief was not displayed in the din of 
arms and the triumph of victory. He did not thun- 
der in front of the enemies lines at the head of his 
Northampton cavsliers. He did not array for our 
defence the fjir fjimed terrors of the ^* silver srrevs.'' 
He did not meet the advancing foe with hostile ban- 
ners, and angry cannon, and dangerous steel. More 
peaceful feats were better suited to his courage and 
capacity, and he beset Mr. Madison and Congress 
with a din of syllogisms, he scoured the field of nego- 
ciaiion with a cloud of metaphors ; and if he did not 
gain the reputation of a good captain, he at least came 
oil* uitli the credit of a bad declaimer. 

And was this enough to satisfy the pride and lof- 
ty spirit of a party that, with such singular modesty, 
claims all the talents and patriotism of the country. 
Were ihe chiefs of that party content with harmless 
menace, and sounding declamation, and empty gasco- 
nade ? Not so. The unpublished records of the Hart- 
ford Convention, that first-born of the Junto, and the 
untold tale of the mission to Washington, may fill up 
the chapter. And here the glories of federalism ter- 
miuate. How are the mighty fallen ! 

A most important trust is confided by the wisdom 
of providence to our hands. It is the cause of civil 
Liberty. And it is consoling to find, that the trial 
Avhich it was hoped by some, and feared by others, 
would prove its grave, has served only to invigorate 



15 

and confirm it. There was a time indeed wlien tlie 
most sanguine had cause of ahirm. When the min- 
ions of royalty, who had heretofore dared little more 
tlian to whisper their hopes to the confidence of friend- 
ship, gathering courage from puhlic disasters, hegan 
to avow them with boldness. When hollow-hearted 
pretenders to republicanism, and professed advocates 
of monarchy, were seen celebrating the triumphs of 
despotism over the last hopes of liberty in Europe ; 
when the madness for legitimacy was at such a height, 
that our presbyterian clergy, who had for genera- 
tions wearied Heaven with prayers for the downfall 
of anti-christ, smit with the love of kings, and sudden- 
ly charmed with the splendors of prelatical dignity, 
sang Halleluiahs on the restoration of that man of sin 
to the plenitude of his ancient power ; the re-establish- 
ment of the inquisition with its dungeons and racks, the 
revival of the Jesuits with the endless train of their 
intrigues and impostures. We remember the cloud 
that gloomed over the country at that time, when the 
events of Europe permitted our ancient and inveter- 
ate foe to throw the whole of his immense force on 
our shores, and the pride of Englishmen talked of 
nothing but deposing our President, and dictating to 
us terms of submission in one of our commercial capi- 
tals. And what was the conduct of Massachusetts 
federalism at that time ? A thousand lierhts blazins: 
in our legislative hall, to honor the triumphs of mon- 
archy by divine right in the old world, and welcome 
its minions to the new, and a simple vote of thanks 
sullenly refused to one of our own heroes, are at once 
a proof and an illustration of the rspirit and principles 



16 

m tlie par{;3^ Threatened by an overwhelming power 
from abroad, and jeopardized by the hardihood of do- 
mestic treason, it is not to be woiidevcd 4s it tEe bold 
^st and most sanguine felt alarm. Then il,)fv:as. that 
II., energy of a governmenty-trusliHg totliife^Kffficlion? 
Mh€-p£ople only for its reso«rc^»Sf*pf?!«ire^in all itH 
4|f^gl9%^. '^A youthful republic was seen awing into si- 
-.^,^!^^nce the mhraiurs of treason, and the clamors of disaf- 
fection, and at the same time with a vigorous arm 
^^ \ . beaHng down tiio^*wer of an ancient and warlike 
,>.^' Bffouarchy. The stDrm that tiireatened to prostrate 
^ our liberty iii eten\M destruction, oiily shook its 

branches, and caused^its !*S0t4fe< strike deeper and 
more firmly in the soil. A\i{\ ^^Hni^jfpdl, terminate 
every *»ial, if Americans p.i!o*4l VI©* hj^M^tfie trust, 
which life 'benignity of^ PiWitloiie^hS^i'i^^d in 
their handV: •o.ttd.tlfp iicevof-Libertyytvyafercd' b^ the 
blood of liero(?g"^SL!feiti:^yr«, t hall conat^riue to flour- 
ish and look green in llfli-'fe'^eju land of&PW and free- 
dom, till the thunders oftfi'fe ^IfilltlHBlivt shalL be 
heard resounding over the fragnietrtg't?^M*' ^uir4 
world. ' *^^ 



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